The adoption of “smart” phone use in the enterprise has lagged behind the productivity gains seen in the consumer market due in part to concerns on how to securely offer mobile applications to employees. When companies do offer mobile access to corporate systems, it is typically only allowed from a limited set of devices and through a restrictive device configuration ensuring data security. These device restrictions adversely impact the functionality of the device for personal use and have slowed adoption of the mobile device as a prominent productivity tool for the enterprise.
On the other hand, data security can also be provided by restrictive log-on and authentication policies for each application. For example, as mobile devices become more prevalent in the work places as productivity tools, enterprise mobile applications are being used to access various systems similar to existing desktop applications. These enterprise mobile applications may be referred to as applications, and can include a host of different functionalities, depending on the service requirements of the enterprise. As examples, services provided by enterprise mobile applications are typically business-oriented tools such as payment processing, billing systems, enterprise content management, IT management, customer relationship management, enterprise resource planning, business intelligence, project management, collaboration, human resource management, manufacturing applications, enterprise application integration, and enterprise forms automation, etc.
In any of these and other examples, the user is required to log on to each of these applications, separately, through the use of different security mechanisms such as, passwords, authentication protocols, etc., depending on the requirements of the enterprise and level of security required. In some enterprises, for example, these security mechanisms can be different for each application, depending on the level of security required, the personnel having permissions to access such applications and/or a host of other concerns. This makes the log on process cumbersome and very complex, from not only the user's perspective but also from the perspective of the enterprise administrator.